Rajinikanth turns 61,fans celebrate

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth quietly brought in his 61st birthday on December 12 while his fans marked the occasion with boisterous celebrations in Chennai including special prayers for their idol.

The actor chose to remain low-profile,though the past year brought him highs,both professional and personal. His mega-budget film Enthiran,which was released as Robot in Hindi,turned out to be one of the biggest hits in 2010 and his younger daughter Soundarya,also a film producer,got married to Chennai-based entrepreneur Ashwin this year.

Fans offered sweets to one another and posters of Rajinikanth adorned the walls in Chennai and other cities in the state with followers organising pujas in temples for the cinestar. Born as Shivajirao Gaikwad,Rajinikanths climb to stardom is like movie screenplay. Having acted in over 150 films in a three-decade long career,gives credit to his mentor and ace director K Balachander,who first featured him in his critically-acclaimed Apoorva Ragangal,co-starring another Tamil icon,Kamal Haasan,for his superstardom.

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After proving his mettle with negative characters,Rajinikanth later went on to play characters with super-hero attributes. Some of his unique mannerisms,like tossing the cigarette to his ups,endeared him to the masses,especially the youth.

However,the very style attracted the ire of former Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss who wanted the actor to stay away from smoking on screen.